Caught in the Middle
by Encrypted Snowflake
Summary: "I've always wanted to go to Equestria and live a life like Twilight Sparkle's." Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it. When a teenage girl ends up in a darker, scarier Equestria, her goals quickly shift from staying forever to getting out alive.
1. Chapter 1

**Friday, July 4th**

5:20 p.m

I'm doodling on my homework, as usual, and minding my business, as usual, when Ragan Daring-a.k.a my best friend-bursts into my room.

I lift my head up from my book of Equestrian History and look at her, bewildered. What was a locked door just seconds ago is now wide open. When she opened the door, the stack of notebook paper that had been in front of it fell over and flew everywhere. The end result is a very messy room. The room that I just finished cleaning.

I'm almost too angry at Ragan to realize this is a total MLP moment. When I do, my glare turns into a smile. I can see it now: Twilight Sparkle, after just sorting her books, is going to read a book. Before she does, however, Rainbow Dash comes crashing in, leaving the books scattered all over the floor.

"Uh, sorry. What are you smiling about? Happy to see me?" Before I can reply, she goes on. "Well, you should be! I just came up with a cool costume idea for the convention!"

_Finally._

"What is it?" I ask with a hint of annoyance.

"I was thinking that I could dress up as your pony OC. After all, anything _you've_ designed will look cool." That took me by surprise. She hasn't even watched a full episode of MLP-and now she wants to dress up as a pony?

"...Okay. I can show it to you, and _if _you like it-" her eyes light up. "then you can wear my OC costume."

There's only one problem:

Ragan can be kind of a tomboy fashion-wise.

My OC is a purple pony with purple and strawberry pink hair, pink eyes, and a heart filled with rainbow colors as her cutie mark. So, yeah, not going to happen. Ragan politely refuses(big surprise there) and run back to her house a minute later.

After cleaning my room for the _second_ time that day, I decide to work on my costume. So I head to the "Art Room" and start sewing.

The art room is thrice the size of my room with twice the amount of sunlight. It used to be the room where I kept all of my toys, but I wanted a room for sewing. The toys were sold on Ebay, the dust was cleared out, we moved a table and a chair in, and we got the white walls painted blue. The art room has more windows that any other room in the house, which I like, because I can see exactly what I'm doing.

This place has become my second room. I even try on my clothes in here. Sometimes, I hang my quilts over the windows when I'm trying on my clothes. RD thinks I put them there to show them off.

I start sewing in the zipper and a few thoughts pop into my previously blank head.

_Today is a really good day to finish this! I'll be done in no time at all, and I won't have to worry about the deadline._

I keep on humming and sewing until something shimmery catches my eye. Turning my head over to the object, I discover what it is.

An old, yellowed scrap of paper with several words written on in in golden...ink. The "ink" glitters, which explains why I saw it stood out in my peripheral vision. I pick it up and bring it closer to my face to see that it's written in an unreadable text. I squint and lean closer to it. Is this supposed to be english? How did it get here? Why am I starting to feel...dizzy..?

The last thing I see before I black out is a pony.

**A/N**: I'll need five or less Ocs for the next chapter, so if you want to submit an OC, here's the form:

Name:

Type of pony(earth pony, pegasis, unicorn):

Appearance:

Role in the Story(background pony, friend-there can only be one friendpony):

Speaking Style(how they talk, do they have an accent, etc.):

Personality:


	2. Chapter 2

**Friday, July 4th**

6:00 p.m

When I wake up, I wipe the drool from my mouth and look around. Why did I fall asleep? What could've happened? I know I should be more skeptical about going unconscious, but I'm not. I'm too scared to look for the answer, so I don't. Instead, I shut off my sewing machine and put it away. I'm going to my room to take a nap, because I'm still tired.

Right as my hand clenches the doorknob, my phone rings. I can tell who has called, too, because the ringtone is set to her favorite song.

"Hello?" I hear Flora's voice.

"Hey! Um, I'm wondering if-"

"I'm sorry, Flora," I say, faking an apologetic tone. "I'm really busy right now."

_I'm really tired right now._

"Mind if I call you back later?"

_Please, let me hang up._

"Well, I was going to, um, say-" I hear angry screams in the background, along with loud music. Where _is _she right now? Could she be inviting me to the party? I walk into my room and sit on my bed.

"Sorry, but I have to go," I yell, hanging up the phone. What if she was trying to say something really important? She sounded panicked...maybe I should call her back...I lose the fight against sleep before I can try reaching for my phone.

_I wake up in my room, as usual. Pressing my hooves on both sides of my bed, I propel myself up and out of bed._

_There's something very wrong about that sentence. _

_Nevertheless, when I woke up today, it felt normal. Even though I wasn't used to being a pony, it wasn't too hard to adapt. When I first discovered that I was a pony, I accepted it as a lucid dream and attempted to move my limbs. After about ten minutes, I got the hang of it and now I'm out of bed. _

_This room looks exactly like mine: Pure white and pristine, the only color being the few golden accents. Right in front of me is my small, round, gold mirror. That's when I first saw I was a pony. Unsurprisingly, I looked exactly like my OC. I was hoping that the pony gazing back at me would be a more realistic version based on myself, but this is okay, too._

_Because I never thought about how my OC got her cutie mark, I have no idea where I'm supposed to work. However, I do know that Midnight's a kind, sweet pony who is known for her empathy...maybe I could start with going outside and greeting everypony? Yes, that sounds like a good idea. I open the door and step outside. When I do, the light is so bright, it brings tears to my eyes._

And then I wake up.

As my eyes open, I probe my memory for what's left of the dream.I can only remember bits and pieces, but it's enough to decide that I want to have dreams like that again.

The next night, I'm in Equestria again. That time, I'm watching a conversation take place. Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight, standing in the currently vacant hallway of Celestia's castle, are discussing something important. I walk towards them and discover that no matter how close to them I get, they still don't see me. They just continue to talk quietly in panicked voices about something.

"_How many did you let into Equestria?"_ Celestia's whisper became a scream.

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia. I thought I did the spell correctly and-"

"_How many?!"_

"I-I don't know."

For about a minute, a side of Celestia that no fan had ever seen came out. Celestia's mane started to glow with with white light, and so did her body. The purple in her eyes disappeared, replaced by pure white. It was like she had become light itself, like she could take any form she wanted to, but chose to remain just a pony.

As she did, I stood a foot away from her, in a daze, my thoughts trying to make sense of what was happening. Is this Celestia's evil form? It would make sense. After all, there's..

Nightmare Moon...

…and Solar Celestia.

But then, her hair changed back to the normal colors and the light vanished. From the look on Twilight's face, I could tell she wasn't nearly as shocked as I was. So, did this happen all the time? Do all princesses have evil forms like this?

"It's...okay, Twilight. I'm just a bit conflicted. We can't have them come back to their world and tell everyone, because then we'd run the risk of someone believing them. We'll just have to keep them here until we find a memory destruction spell that's powerful enough. Goodnight."

I'm still contemplating those events at 5:20 p.m, when my phone rings. Ragan Daring is calling me.

"Hello?"

"Flora, Jackie, Amethyst, and Pinkie are missing! Do you know anything about-"

"Missing? What do you mean?" I ask, holding back a sigh. It seems that everything I've heard lately has been bad news.

"Missing-as in, no one could find them. The police have been searching all morning! How could you not know this? I was going to ask you if you knew about their whereabouts or had contact with them in the last twenty-four hours, but I guess you don't even care."

Why is Ragan acting so stressed? It's not like her to be so serious.

"I _do _care! I-" She hung up on me. Rude.

I know I should be at Ragan's house right now, telling the police what Flora said to me two days ago, but I still can't get that image out of my head. So I get a big sheet of paper and start to sketch Solar Celestia. In the picture, her wings are spread out and glowing. The only colors on her are from her necklace, crown, and shoes. When I finish the picture, it's already 6:00.

I considered drawing another pony, the pony I saw in the sewing room before I fell unconscious. She had blue eyes, and she was an alicorn. Her body was a pale yellow and her mane was golden. She wore a simple, rose-colored crown with a heart in the middle and silver princess-style shoes with one rose-colored gem in the middle of each shoe. Honestly, I don't know how I remembered her so well. I guess my memory's _not_ as bad as I've always thought it was.

I fall asleep easily that night and dream of ponies.

**Monday, July 7th**

6:00 a.m

I feel horrible when I wake up. My arms are sore, my stomach hurts, and my ears are itchy. Also, an unusual amount of sunlight is shining through my white curtains. In fact, I can't even see myself in my mirror when I wake up because the light is covering my reflection. That quickly changes, though, and I hear thunder a few seconds later.

I raise a hoof to my ear and scratch.

Like any other dream, I'm going to stretch and go outside to greet everypony. Unlike any other dream, it's raining and the clouds are dark gray. I go over to my balcony to watch the rain for a while. Then, I go downstairs. I've never seen my parents as ponies in my dreams, but if they were, I know what they would look like. My mom would be a green pony with a pale pink mane and my dad would be navy blue with silver hair.

I walk over to the front door. I crack the door open by turning the doorknob with my mouth and feel the rain. My hoof actually gets wet, and it feels so realistic. I walk back to my room and open the closet door. My umbrella is there, but how would I pick it up? How would I use it?

Picking it up with my hooves would be my normal answer, but I can't. If I was a pony, it would be embarrassing to use my hooves, just like if I was a human, it would be weird to use my mouth. I lean towards the blue umbrella with pink dots and hold it in my mouth.

The door is still open, so I walk outside and sit on the chair on the front porch. My hooves fumble with the umbrella, but I manage to get it open.

Loud violin music is played. The sky is half day, half night. In the streets are hundreds-maybe thousands-of ponies, all gathered around a shiny, round, Cinderella-esque gold chariot pulled by ponies made of light. Princess Solar Celestia stood, and lightning bolts shot all around her. A face started to appear in the gray clouds, and it looked kind of like her. I never knew a pony could be so scary until now. I ran to the crowd to look. I see several of my neighbors. One of them is a brown pegasus pony I don't know with a green mane and red eyes.

"What's happened?! What in Equestria is going on?"

The aforementioned brown pony with a monocle cutie mark turned towards me. "It's Celestia's birthday," He answered matter-of-factly. My shocked expression didn't change, so he continued: "Princess Celestia was born on this day. Each year, she celebrates it in a different place, with a different theme. This year, it's here."

Hmm. Great, but it still doesn't explain the aura of discord. Maybe this had been going on for a long time, and now it's just normal? But why would anypony want this? What version of My Little Pony is _this_? I was totally confused, but I tried not to show it.

"Oh, right. I forgot." I said, in an anti-convincing tone that neither of us bought. I directed my attention back to the chariot.

"Hello, my subjects," she yelled. "I am here today to celebrate the birthday of me, Princess Celestia. But I am also here to inform you of what has been going on in Equestria." Everyone gasped. Ponies started to whisper.

"Are the rumors true?"

"Are we all doomed?"

"This is horrible! If what I've heard is actually true.."

"Humans are in Equestria and the rest of the world!" A particularly large lightning bolt struck down. "They will appear as ponies, so if you see anyone strange, tell us."

That was all she said about the topic for the rest of the day. Instead of joining the other ponies to party, I walked back over to the pony I had been talking to. "Um, what's your name?" I might as well make a friend here. Plus, I should know other ponies so I don't look suspicious. I take my dreams seriously.

"Englager," He answers. "And yours?" My OC has several, depending on the roleplay. But all of those names have one name in common... "Midnight," I say, before joining the other ponies.

The party ends, and it's only when I'm back in my bed when I realize...

That was way too realistic for a dream.

A/N: The chapters _will_ get longer over the course of the story. Also, it may get kind of confusing when I start to change up the POVs. I'll explain it if it's confusing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tuesday, July 8th**

Midnight's Room

6:00 a.m

When I don't wake up in the real world, my heartbeat speeds up and I start to panic. Why am I still having dreams? Was I attacked or knocked unconscious? If this was a normal story, I could get help from the ponies and go back home. But because they were searching for humans-turned-ponies, they couldn't help me in this.

Which leads me to my next thought: how will I blend in? I'm a unicorn. They expect me to know _magic. _If I knew magic, I wouldn't have been trying to carry that umbrella. If I had known magic, I wouldn't have been so surprised at the magic Celestia had been using. I even talked to that other _pony_-Englager-about what Celestia did. _What if my cover is already blown?_

That settles it-I need to practice my magic.

In several movies and cartoons-like Peter Pan and almost every Disney movie ever-if you believe you can use magic, just _believe_ hard enough and poof! You can use it. I tried to do that with my magic, too, but after three minutes I decided that it wouldn't work. Maybe I could try thinking of what I wanted to happen and visualize it in my head.

That reminds me of something that happened when I was nine. I had just finished watching a movie and decided that magic was real. So, I spent all day creating a magic wand. I cut out two yellow pieces of fabric, "sprinkled"(more like drowned) them in glitter, and sewed them together. I had found a wooden chopstick and painted in white, then stuck in into the star. I tried _all day_ to get it to perform magic, and it didn't. After all, all it was and ever will be is a chopstick and a fabric star. Without thinking, I broke the wand in half and threw it into the trash can. It would have been a great thing to have, though, because that's the first time I had used a sewing machine. It's when I discovered my talent.

I'm ready to give up when I remember that ponies have spells for things like this at the library. There probably aren't spells for non-magical ponies, but there are plenty of spells for unicorns! All I have to do is find out where the library is, and I can ask somepony about that.

My thoughts are interrupted when a rolled-up scroll appears right in front of me, surrounded by purple magic and floating in midair. I clench it in my mouth and place it down on my lap. It stops glowing and opens up. It reads:

**Dear Subjects:**

**In order to find the humans in Equestria, Luna and I have decided to make all ponies take a test. On the twelfth of July, all ponies shall gather in Canterlot. Those who can not afford transportation must send a letter to the royal guards, because attendance is not optional. Send any questions to the Balitimare mailponies and librarians.**

**Sincerely, Princess Celestia**

It's...over, before it even began. I've always wanted to live in Equestria, but _this_!

What's going to happen once she finds me? I remember the conversation that happened in my previous dreams. Could that have anything to do with this? If they find out I'm a human, they'll just keep me here until they can wipe my memory. Once they find the humans, the discord in Baltimare(I'm guessing that's where I am, it's what it said on the letter)will be gone. I trot downstairs, trying to brush my worries away as easily as I brush my(human) hair. No worries, today is a new day. Now, I'll go ask somepony for directions to the library.

It turns out I don't need directions.

Everypony was standing in a huge line at the library(I never thought I'd say that sentence). All I had to do was look out my window to see the line. No one wants to look suspicious or miss Celestia's test, and they needed more details. However, because of the line, I would have to wait to look up magic. I go to the end of the line to find Englager in front of me.

"Princess Celestia left a lot of questions unanswered," He tells me. "It's no surprise that everypony would be here." About ten ponies overheard the librarian's answer and dropped out of the line. Now that I think about it, I have a question myself-do I need to wear something fancy when I'm in the castle? Will we even be in the castle? One thing's for sure-I've got to brush my hair. When I designed my OC, I made her hair curly(loose curls, nothing like Rarity's)and in reality, she'd have to brush her strawberry pink and purple hair way too often. I've only been here for a day and now it's a tangled mess.

But I'm smart enough to know that I can't ask the questions I want to ask without looking stupid or suspicious, so I shift my focus back to the spellbooks. When I finally get into the very crowded library, I go to the magic section.

The magic section is in the back of the library. Anypony would know they were there because it glowed with magic. I grabbed the first book I could find on levitation and opened it.

"Levitation:A beginner's guide to magic," I read. Yes! Now I can learn how to use magic! Then I'm going to check out books with teleportation spells and more advanced magic spells and-

"Oh, how sweet! Are you getting that for someone?" A blue stallion with orange eyes and an orange dragon cutie mark asks. "Uh..yeah," I know:not convincing. At. All. I get the levitation book and get out of the beginner's section. I also get a teleportaion book and a book of easy spells. I get a box to carry it in and I'm headed back to my house when I see a familiar face. A golden pony with a pink heart crown. She's an alicorn with blue eyes. She's the same pony I saw before I blacked out, but why? And why is she an alicorn? Is she royalty? Is she supposed to represent someone from the real world?

"Hello! Um, miss.." She doesn't turn around to face me. Instead, she quickens her steps, panting like she's in a hurry. Who is she? Does she know I'm a human? It would make sense, she did see me when I blacked out.

"Hey! Come back here!" I follow her with all of my strength, throwing down the library books and trying to catch up with her. She goes into an alleywad her. It was only when I got a good look at her again and we were both on the ground when I realized that wasn't an alicorn. The pony I saw now was a pegasus with green eyes and scruffy haiy, I follow her. She flew, I chaser.

"Huh? Why are you following me?" She blinks in surprise.

I get out of there.

**Tuesday, July 8th**

_**Real Time, **_4:00 p.m

Ragan's House

"Hey, has anyone seen or heard from your friend?" Ragan's mom set down the mashed potatoes on the kitchen table. "It seems like a lot of people have gone missing lately. You should check up on her." Ragan walked over to her friend's house, sure than nothing had happened to her. She was very surprised when she looked in the house.

**Tuesday, July 11th**

Midnight's Room

6:00 a.m

Three days after the misunderstanding, I wake up in a room that very strongly resembles my own. Midnight's room. Again. What if something really did happen to me? Am I in a coma at the hospital? Was I killed? Why am I stuck in this dream?

"It's_ too real to be a dream," _I decide. This is real. And I only have one day until the test. So, I go to the spellbooks that I checked out earlier. Except, they're not there.

_I must've dropped them when I saw that alicorn princess pony,_ I realize. Great. So now I have to find them. They're probably dirty and covered in mud, or hoofprints. And it was so hard to carry those books last time without them falling! Well, I better go now.

I retreive the books and return to my house. But when I open the books, my fears come to life. Some pages are torn and dilapidated, others are soggy with water. Several of them are missing. Only three pages stayed intact, and I'm grateful for them. Because the pages that can still be read are very valuable.

"How to perform a simple levetation spell," I read aloud. And by the end of the morning, I knew how to do it.

The other two pages were about temorarily looking like a different pony and teleportation for begginers, respectively. I tried to learn both but only learned the teleportation spell. But at the end of the day, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. I felt prepared.


End file.
